If this is your first visit, be sure to
check out the FAQ by clicking the
link above. You may have to register
before you can post: click the register link above to proceed. To start viewing messages,
select the forum that you want to visit from the selection below.

Here's "Part 3" of the Multi-Part MASTERS OF THE UNIVERSE: "ORIGINS" Art Card Collection by Jafaristew! The project started off with the unpublished Whitman Origin characters as the basis, & before I knew it, I expanded the universe "art card idea" to include 50 (or MORE) MOTU characters from various media outlets since its inception. Next up is 2 mainstays, a fan favorite from Brazil, & 2 of the most obscure entries for this project!

AVATAR (aka STRATOS): Mostly Alcala influenced, including the rare blue-beard variant, as well as my own ideas about the character. He is one of Skeletor's minions in this story, following some of the earliest published works about the character! "Avatar" was noted to be an early name for Stratos along with "Wing-Man."

GORGONE: When I 1st decided to make this into a full series, Gorgone was the 1st character I added outside of the Whitman Origin, as she is a wonderful titan created in the Brazilian comics that I could not resist!

PRINCE IZOR: A very obscure character that was uniquely created for the bootleg MOTU Model Trem line, Prince Izor was planned for late in the series but I decided to include him now! You can see more about this figure here: http://www.he-man.org/forums/boards/...MOTU-Character! Special thanks to member Monteeg for his great photos!

SOLARA: Thinking outside of the box & into MOTU inspired lines comes SOLARA from the unproduced "Wonder Woman & Th Star Riders" line. This line was meant to compete with Sailor Moon in the 90's, & was even going to use some POP accessories & steeds. It's loose ties to POP & interesting characters led me to include the fiery Solara in my Origins Art Cards collection! You can find more info on WW&TSR here:http://www.he-man.org/forums/boards/...he-star-riders

TORNADO (aka SY-KLONE): Based on 1 of Sy-klone's early drafts in the P&HF Vol.1 art book as well as his appearance in the mini-comic "Spikor Strikes!" "Tornado" was one of Sy-Klone's early working names.

Special thanks to my brother Poweredconvoy for the feedback, & enthusiasm!

-On Avatar, IDK does he really need to be called that? What about Aviatar? Cause I obviaously can't hear that first name without hearing Cameron's ego in my head . But I like the design, kinda like the Oz flying monkies meets a rooster Luchador !

-On Gorgone- I think it's cool you put her in this, and hope you add in the other hot Brazilian MOTU babes to offset the more covered up Teela..just saying .

-Is it me or does Izor have a bit of a Sean Connery ala Zardoz?

-I had thought Solara was a new Star Sister when I had seen her, but I had forgotten about that never launched Wonder Woman/Star Riders girly line. Which had also featured Dolphin, I had done a theoretical DCNU re-design of Dolphin on my DA page (off-topic shameless self plug aside LOL) This almost makes me wanna see the Goldengirl She-Ra knockoff line in another MOTU cannon sans POP, along with Sectaurs if you wanna have Buzzoff with a larger racial background.

-I like how you gave Sy-Clone a Red Tornado treatment, makes sense, and he's got a futuristic Windows start-up logo on his chest LOL! The colors and the club almost gives him an Myan/Aztec vibe to me for some reason.

Visit my art page at: http://theblock.deviantart.com/ , if you like my work and have an account there to, feel free to fave or watch me, I could use the street cred !

My favorite is Avatar his hands and feet are a great idea, the colors you used for him are really striking!
Tornado looks cool but his colors are to dark for my taste.
Gorgones stone outfit looks great but some how her proportions are weird, i think her legs could be longer but maybe thatīs just me, i have a tendency for to long legs on my pictures.
This time has been a very interesting bunch of characters! I simply adore your creativity!

I am glad you like Avatar Niki! I have received some great internal compliments on his coloration. I tried to translate what I thought Alcala's version would look like covered in feathers, his mini-comic flesh translated to a yellow vibe for me, almost like a chicken's feathers. The armor represents the Alcala look but with more of a "Rocketeer" coloration of leather. And his belt/loin cloth is influenced from the MOTUC crossover art. The talon idea was my own as I tried to make him more bird & less simian.
I decided to make Tornado darker because I wanted him to be like a storm. Dark, cold, & gloomy. Also as a cyborg almost to have a painted-metal-type feel. Gorgone was drawn from a figure model. I am very glad you are so enthusiastic about this series, as there is much more to come & I really appreciate your feedback!

Thank you my friend, your photos really helped me bring Prince Izor to life! And you may see more Brazilian influence in the series as it carries on as my list of obscure & classic characters is long from all reaches of MOTU!

Originally Posted by Mike Bock

I've always been a big fan of your art work man. These look awesome, great job. Love them all!!

Thanks brother! Always great to hear from you!

Originally Posted by theblock

-On Avatar, IDK does he really need to be called that? What about Aviatar? Cause I obviaously can't hear that first name without hearing Cameron's ego in my head . But I like the design, kinda like the Oz flying monkies meets a rooster Luchador!
-On Gorgone- I think it's cool you put her in this, and hope you add in the other hot Brazilian MOTU babes to offset the more covered up Teela..just saying .
-Is it me or does Izor have a bit of a Sean Connery ala Zardoz?
-I had thought Solara was a new Star Sister when I had seen her, but I had forgotten about that never launched Wonder Woman/Star Riders girly line. Which had also featured Dolphin, I had done a theoretical DCNU re-design of Dolphin on my DA page (off-topic shameless self plug aside LOL) This almost makes me wanna see the Goldengirl She-Ra knockoff line in another MOTU cannon sans POP, along with Sectaurs if you wanna have Buzzoff with a larger racial background.
-I like how you gave Sy-Clone a Red Tornado treatment, makes sense, and he's got a futuristic Windows start-up logo on his chest LOL! The colors and the club almost gives him an Myan/Aztec vibe to me for some reason.

My good friend theblock! I went with "Avatar" naming this round because I will be drawing both classics "Stratos" & his other working name "Wing-Man" for 2 separate future projects! It's just like "The Last Airbender" to me where I can separate the name from Cameron's epic lol ...and your description of him is spot on!

On Gorgone... lol TRUST me when I say there are some scantily clad women planned for this series, so even though Teela & the POP girls are mostly uniformed, some of my other obscure MOTU expanded universe ladies that I have selected will bring back the fanservice you (& some of my other fans) demand!

Great observation on Prince Izor, I wanted to give him a slightly more rugged yet distiguished appeal & that's a great comparison!

Hit me with the link to your "Dolphin" design as I would love to see her! Originally I was going to do "Ice" in this series, but figured with "Frosta" already being a true MOTU character I would change that idea. "Solara" is a little more unique for MOTU as she is a fire girl & there is no true designated heroic fire girl in MOTU. Plus she is Latina, which I though helped to add some diversity to the line. The original character from Mattel was so pink that when I started coloring her it was like...pink overkill & I need to diversify the colors some more, yet still keep it to the original designs intentions. I love the designs for "Golden Girl" and would consider any of those great characters for this project or another future project as they are just to amazing to pass up. I was always very fond of Sapphire & I even received Ogra one time for Xmas as a kid! I can tell you that I am a major Sectaurs fan & I do have a loose tie in between Sectaurs & MOTU planned for this series as well as Buzz-Off in an upcoming part.

Again you're very perceptive! Tornado does have a darker pallette to appear more storm like, and as for his club, the colors do have a bit of that Aztec flare! It is based on the onethat Sy-Klone takes from Spikor in the mini-comic "Spikor Strikes!" I wanted him to have a more aggressive weapon in this series rather than his trade mark shield & this seemed to be the right fit! Thank you very much for all of your thoughts & feedback, as I really appreciate it!

Originally Posted by danbrenus

My oh my....that Stratos/Avatar looks like he's popped out of a P&H book....I'm a little lazy lately on the web, but this concepts really awakes my passion on this brand, keep doing mate!

Thank you my friend, some of your work has been a direct influence on the choices made for this series, as I admire your Masters art very much & I always appreciate any feedback you can provide! I am glad you like Avatar/Stratos!!

I am glad to hear you are keeping an eye in brazilian stuff, specially Abril publications...

The official comics were released here by Abril Cultural in 1986. The first 12 issues were very bad, since all stories were based in Filmation cartoon and a poor art.
When Abril purchased the Marvel/Star rights , they started a new era in brazilian MOTU publications. They did a wonderful mix between US's Marvel comics and an unpublished ones, signed by many brazilian artists...
In this phase, we can feature Watson Portela, one of the best brazilian artists of all time !
We can see a lot of brand new characters and our old friends were always showing up like Fang Man, Granamyr (small and green) and Jitsu/Chopper...
This phase started in #13 and ended in #32, continuing in She-Ra's own comics (again, a mix between UK's stories/covers and Watson Portelas' ones).

^ Thanks for the history lesson Moteeg my friend!
I had no idea that this was the reasons why the Brazilian comics went thru such a change, & I am glad that the latter comics became so unique!
I find in addition to the publications I grew up with, the media outside the USA is equally as fascinating & have tried to look at both Brazil & the UK for influences on my character selections for this series.
Another character I can confirm for this series out of the ones that you mentioned is Jitsu/Chopper, & he is going to be featured soon!

Some notes about the weapons chosen for the characters here (I already mentioned where Tornado's is from)...

Avatar/Stratos has a sword from the 80's *Plays With* MOTU silver edition "warrior weapons" pack from the "Dungeons, Knights, & Daggers" series. In most of the earliest promotional photos for MOTU, Mattel would give Stratos He-Man's power sword while He-Man would hold the axe & shield, but since the original (& modern Stratos) has no weapons, & I could not use the most recognizable weapon in the "Masters" Universe, I thought this sword was befitting & could give an evil version of the character some aggression (vs say the Staff Of Avion). I may end up using other weapons from this series on those characters that were never really supplied with trademark weaponry.

Prince Izor has the laser gun the figure came with, & Solara has a fire wand based loosely on Hebrew elemental cultures.

Gorgone is actually carrying a Pterodactyl wing! Based on a Chap Mei design from "Stone Age Dinosaurs" & with coloration based on the 200X "Terrrordactyl."

Thank you my friend, I very much appreciate your very kind words, & the fact that you keep coming back for more installments!

Wouldn't miss it. I love your drawing style and your coloring. What makes it one of my favorite is the way they look so real, yet they look like they are straight from a cartoon. Kind of like near live animation. Solara, Teela and Tallstar in particular look so sharp. It's almost as if you understand their character through the eyes and expressions you gave them. Prince Izor..... you nailed his (I'm guessing Brazilian heritage since that is where the figure was from) look completely. Tri-Klops is my favorite evil guy and you nailed that one too. Anyone who knows me, knows how much I get into the "Star Wars Like" expanded universe and obscure stuff. So your Anom and Gorgone are pretty exciting. Great work! I can't wait to see more.

Wouldn't miss it. I love your drawing style and your coloring. What makes it one of my favorite is the way they look so real, yet they look like they are straight from a cartoon. Kind of like near live animation. Solara, Teela and Tallstar in particular look so sharp. It's almost as if you understand their character through the eyes and expressions you gave them. Prince Izor..... you nailed his (I'm guessing Brazilian heritage since that is where the figure was from) look completely. Tri-Klops is my favorite evil guy and you nailed that one too. Anyone who knows me, knows how much I get into the "Star Wars Like" expanded universe and obscure stuff. So your Anom and Gorgone are pretty exciting. Great work! I can't wait to see more.

Thank you iron pride. I have to say this is one of the nicest & most geniune compliments I ever remember recieving on my work & it's very much appreciated. I will remember your kind words. It makes me very happy that you understand what I am trying to convey with my pieces & have felt a connection to the characters through my work which is exactly what I am trying to do. I have between 50 to 100 characters selected for this project and a very good percentage is based exactly on the "expanded universe" idea or obscure versions of mainstays, so I think you will be very pleased with what's to come. Thanks again!